


Knight Pandorica

by pocketmouse



Category: Doctor Who
Genre: Community: kink_bingo, F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-08-05
Updated: 2010-08-05
Packaged: 2017-10-10 23:17:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 951
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/105498
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pocketmouse/pseuds/pocketmouse
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>People really have the wrong opinion of the Centurion.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Knight Pandorica

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to petra for betaing! Spoilers for the The Big Bang, I guess. Written for the kink_bingo chastity square.
> 
> Podfic version by anatsuno available [here](http://anatsuno.dreamwidth.org/919254.html).

Rory was pretty sure that Amy would laugh at the idea of asking him to stay faithful to him for nearly two thousand years. And not just because of the two thousand years part. No, that just wasn't the sort of thing she cared about, not in that way.

Still, Rory did, and here he was.

Though truthfully, this had all been a lot easier when he was still kitted out in the Roman garb and the aura of mystery. Being a history professor was much less mysterious and cool than the Indiana Jones movies had made it out to be. At least no one had seen those yet, either. Though he was going to lose that edge in a couple of years. It was strange knowing what was going to happen before it happened -- Rory'd seen _Life on Mars_, and it was just like that, except without the head injuries or the jumping off buildings, thank you.

There were some differences. The no stars thing had taken some getting used to, and Australia had apparently never been colonized by the Empire (probably because everyone had been so crap at sailing without stars, even Marco Polo had been shite). But still, he'd lived through all of it, sometimes more up close and personal than he'd like, and it put him in a good enough position to do a bit of teaching.

He just hadn't thought about the popular image of his own past before teaching about it.

Oh, he knew what the popular _academic_ theories were, he'd read the historical accounts -- contributed a few as well -- the religious analyses, even some of the fictional literature, but none of them really prepared him for the kind of writing he was getting from his first year students. 'Doomed Lovers: The Influence of The Pandorica Legend on Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.' 'The Centurion: A Courtly Knight.' He'd been slightly horrified, deeply embarrassed, and entirely sorry of the fact that being plastic he couldn't get drunk.

Nobody knew what was inside the Pandorica except for him. The technology to scan inside the box wouldn't be invented for decades, if not centuries. And really, the Pandorica as a casket wasn't a popular theory; most of the papers he'd read were just talking about the facile concept of fidelity, the dedication to duty. Too many mentions of promises and oaths, and somewhere along the way, where he hadn't been paying attention, people's imaginations had filled in the gaps.

Even when he couldn't be there with her, Amy managed to still be with him.

He'd told himself stories, falling back into childhood habit, imagining what it would be like if Amy was here with him -- he'd steered well clear of Venice, just in case -- spoke quiet words against the heavy stonework of the Pandorica when he could be near it, wrote letters and sent their ashes in offering on the wind when he couldn't.

Just because she couldn't answer back didn't mean she wasn't _there_. He was here to protect _her_, because of what he'd done. Even if Amy wouldn't see settling down with someone in 1840 as a crime, he'd still feel ashamed. Worse. And he wasn't made for one night stands, not at all. Waiting for Amy felt -- right. Helped him feel less like he was just a madman with a box.

He graded the papers as fairly as he could, trying to critique them based on the facts that he knew had been recorded, and not just the truth of his memories. He still got the date for VE-Day wrong sometimes. And most of the papers were still better than the historical accounts after Pope Gregory IX got to them. That had taken several firm talkings-to to straighten out.

Still, he thought as he crossed through another line of painfully florid language, he supposed he could see the similarities, if someone really wanted to make a case for them. But he wasn't _pining_. Not hardly. Resisting the urge to look up Amy's mother and father, maybe. Trying to think of the best way to apologize for shooting the love of your life, definitely. But pining, no. And chastity -- well maybe, of a sort.

But only because he didn't want anyone else. How could he want anyone but Amy? Saving the planet together sort of endeared you to someone, as did the whole running around through time and space. Even if he wasn't plastic, he had a hard time believing most of the people he'd met could really understand the things he'd been through, and he was pretty sure Amy understood all of it, even the plastic part. The shooting her part he wasn't so sure of.

And really, that right there ought to be enough to put anyone else off. 'Actually, I killed my last girlfriend. Well, I shot her; she might not be all dead. We'll find out in another thirty years or so.' Because that was the rest of it. He wasn't here on a date, sightseeing and swordfighting. He was here to make sure Amy stayed safe, to make up for what he'd done. Going off and having a good time didn't line up with that. That would be just as bad as if he'd skipped forward with the Doctor in the first place.

The girl he'd grown up with would have taken the shortcut. She'd have wrapped her hand around the Doctor's wrist and blinked away in a flash of light. She would have trusted that the details would work out. But Rory wanted to be sure. In himself, in the passage of time. He wasn't willing to leave anything to chance.

After all, he was getting married in the morning.


End file.
